Movies and video games have an interesting relationship. Regardless of the innovations that each medium has brought to entertainment, they so rarely get along. Whether it’s bad video games based on movies ormovies based on video games, it’s become very apparent that these two just should not work together… until a decade ago.
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While only in past couple of years has movies based on video games started to become less than abysmal, video games based on movies have started to become more hit than miss. But why is this the case? What are these games doing now that couldn’t be accomplished years ago? What are making these games great and what is ruining them?
10Great: Professional Voice-Acting
A lot of the time movies are adapted into video games, they bring the actors in to portray their respective characters once again through voice acting. Sometimes they manage to bring the same energy they had during film production but, too many times, they tend to bring a lifeless drawl to their voices. We’ve seen this with Tobey Maguire in theSpider-Mangames, Matthew Perry inFallout: New Vegasand even Michael Biehn inAliens: Colonial Marinesfor reprising his critically-acclaimed performance.
While the developers' hearts are in the right place, trying to adapt the movie to a tee with the same actors, it’s not a necessity. There are plenty of great voice actors out there that consistently gain praise for their performances. There’s need to rely on star-power to sell a video game.
9Ruin: Lack Of Respect For The Art
For many years, when a movies were adapted in video games, the reason that they weren’t as expected is because the art of video games weren’t well respected. To movie studios, video games were the equivalent of those McDonald’s happy meal toys they used to promote their films. Only recently has more care gone into adapting these properties but previous games likeFriday the 13th,Total Recalland evenE.Twere proof that the developers believed that not a lot of care needed to go into these properties. Video games are art, and producers need to finally understand that.
8Great: Thinking Outside The Box
Okay, we can’t pretend thatJaws Unleashedwas a good game in anyway shape or form, but at least Appaloosa Interactive tried. Based on the 1975 film, the player takes control of the shark in an open world environment to cause mayhem, feeding on humans and animals alike. Granted the graphics, controls, gameplay and everything lacked, but at least the developers tried to mix up the narrative by putting you in a new perspective.
Why not follow this example because, despite the game failing, this was one of the few aspects of the game that was praised. This kind of thinking was brought into the development ofShadow of MordorandStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, giving a new perspective on a classic story. Don’t be afraid to think outside the box.
7Ruin: Ugly Presentation
You’d think that this wouldn’t be a problem with this gaming generation but after playingIron ManorAliens: Colonial Marines, you’d be very wrong. The graphics of a video game are like a first impression. If they look underwhelming and, for lack of a better word, hideous, it lowers the enjoyment of the game, regardless of how the rest of the game is. Much like watching a movie with lackluster or special effects or production, it just too hard to become invested in whatever else is going. A little more effort in the art department can go a long way.
6Great: Open Up The World
When Peter Jackson brought his interpretation ofKing Kongto the big screen, it wasn’t seen as likely to create a video game based on the film. However, Ubisoft obviously wanted to give the player a true sense of what it would be like to be trapped on Skull Island, with all the dinosaurs, giant insects and other monstrosities from lore. While the film only showed a fraction of this island’s horror, the game let us experience it at first-hand.
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Developers shouldn’t feel constricted by what is shown in the movie. If there is an opportunity to give the players a grander experience of the fictional world created, they should take it.Spider-Man 2took that chance and, because of their innovation, we have a blueprint for every future Spider-Man game.
5Ruin: Adapting A Non-Adaptable Property
Just because it was a successful film does not mean that it’ll make a successful video game.Reservoir Dogshas become a cult classic among cinephiles for its gripping story, real characters and ability to avoid crime film cliches. The game, however, decided to just stuff it with full of shooter cliches, making the game bland. The same with can be said aboutSaw.
When the movie came out, it quickly became horror film favorite . When the game came, players were wondering why this had to be made, because while the story was praised, the gameplay was criticized for being dull. Developers cannot just paint bland some gameplay over a movie concept and hope that it’ll work out.
4Great: Innovative Gameplay
The early Spider-Man games are a great example of this. While the firstSpider-Mangame based on the Tobey Maguire films was a moderate success, combining fun combat with simplistic web-swinging. However, the developers didn’t like the simple web-swinging gameplay because it seemed like Spider-Man was swinging from the clouds instead of buildings. So, for the sequel, they created a new engine that allowed proper swinging through attaching web-lines to building, creating the sensation of swinging like a superhero.
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Spider-Man 2also allowed the player to do things that could never be done in a Spider-Man game like hanging thugs from telephone poles, save people from large heights and even retrieve kids balloons. Just because it’s based after a movie, doesn’t mean that it can’t be innovative.
3Ruin: Weird, Inconsistent Gameplay
When adaptingBack to the Futureinto a video game, would you ever think the gameplay would consist of an avatar vaguely resembling Marty McFly running down the streets of 1955, collecting clocks? Well that’s what we got back in 1989. This gameplay also, weirdly enough, including block kisses from Lorraine in a classroom, remember that classic scene from the movie?
The same can be said aboutRocky Super Action Boxingwith the slow combat that rules out any strategy, resulting in random button mashing.Goldeneye 64, considered to be one of the greatest video games of all time, got this right. While it might not be that impressive to look at today, but the gameplay was considered to be very innovative through simple FPS mechanics and contributing this mechanics to different, fun missions. If this teaches you anything, be a James Bond, not a Rocky.
2Great: Don’t Rely Too Much On Original Plot
Some of the greatest movie-based games released in the past decade have beenShadow of MordorandAlien Isolation. Other than the innovative gameplay, one of the most praised aspects of these games is the storyline. Each game followed a new character that wasn’t introduced in the original lore, Talion inShadow of Mordorand Amanda Ripley inIsolation. This built upon the lore, exploring new ways to build upon the original idea.Shadow of Mordortook place years before the first film, putting you right in the center of Mordor against Sauron’s army to get revenge for your slaughtered family andIsolationtook place 15 years after theAlienon the search for Ellen Ripley.
Whenever these games try to keep to close to the film’s storyline, it takes the creativity away from the developers. Especially if the movie doesn’t warrant a game adaptation, following the plot too much forces developers to try and incorporate gameplay mechanics or stuff in watered-down side story that barely fits in with the original plot.
1Ruin: Rushed Production
A large reason for a lot the problems on this list is most likely due to a rushed production to parallel the release of the movie. For the longest time, video games with a movie tie-in were just seen as extra promotion for the film. This was mostly the case for kids movies because, well, kids love video games. IfDisneyand/or Pixar released a movie, you could always count on a video game release was soon going to follow. While some these were games were okay, but it’s clear that not a lot of thought or care went into these games to make something truly special or unique, which is something that every developer should try to do when creating a video game.
